Liner Notes: The Laurel Tree "Hear the voice of the bard, Who present, past and future sees..." (William Blake, Introduction to "Songs Of Experience") The Laurel Tree is the debut album of Sara Hillis, a celtically-inspired folk musician. It consists of nine tracks which vary in tone from peaceful and reflective, to mysterious and moody. The songs are all settings of rather well-known poetry from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The album is a meeting of the minds, where a bard of the present pays homage to those of the past. It begins with the hauntingly-mysterious "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This song is about the power of the creative spirit and its struggle to harness the beautiful visions which are so fleeting in an artist's world. "The Song Of Wandering Aengus" by W. B. Yeats is next. This is a song about desire, about the perpetual desire of the human spirit to find the secret and elusive mysteries of life. Many musicians have been fascinated with this poem. Perhaps it is the dreamlike quality of the images and ideas expressed in it which has compeled musicians such as the 60's folk-rock musician Donovan to try to capture it in melody. Whatever the reason, it has been set to many different tunes by many different composers. The version on "The Laurel Tree" is yet another original setting, beautiful in its simplicity, expressing the longing of Aengus to find his love. Another Yeats poem, "The Lake Isle Of Innisfree," is about humanity's need to find a home, a place of peace where the rigours of the world cannot intrude. We all have these special places we create, either in our minds or in reality, and Yeats's simple, down-to-earth imagery of nature and serenity are compelling in a world which is often anything but peaceful. "The Lambe" by William Blake is a look at our relationship to God. Blake shows that we are all made in God's image, because we share the names by which Christ is known. The song is about finding a connection with God by first looking within ourselves, and through innocence, finding the Devinity in all things. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," a poem by John Keats, is about the traps we sometimes find ourselves in when we try to take what is not ours to own. Sometimes, the best way to learn how deep the ocean is is to dive head first into it. This is not always the easiest way, but it is the hard lessons in life which stay with us the longest. "The Host Of The Air," again by Yeats, is the story of a man who complacently walks in a dream through life. He is not without potential, but he takes life and love for granted and loses them in the end. This shows the folly of dreaming one's life away. It is a lesson to seize the day and not to let chances slip past untaken. The seventh song, "The Splendour Falls" by Tennyson, is about the magic and beauty that can be found in the simple things in life. Here, a sunset in Kilarney, Ireland is described, and this leads to a realization that love does not set like the sun, but grows ever brighter if it is shared. The last two songs, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas, and "Crossing The Bar" by Tennyson, show two ways in which humans see death. "Do Not Go Gentle" is the reflection of a man's grief at the imminent death of his father. He does not want to lose him, and so he urges him not to give up. "Crossing The Bar," on the other hand, is about the acceptance of death as a real part of life. The narrator in the poem knows he is going to die, but he is not afraid. He will simply drift away upon the twilit sea to some other shore. He bids his mourners not to mourn, because his soul will continue after his body is cold. So, it is easy to see that this album traces the trials and triumphs of life, with all its twists and turns. It speaks well for the poets too. Art need not be some high and intellectual thing completely divorced from our daily struggles and joys. On the contrary, some of the best art reflects the human condition, and "The Laurel Tree" is a prime example of this. The album was recorded at Downhome Recording Studios in Kitchener ontario, with production and technical assistance by David J. McLaren. Enjoy! Sara Hillis